Jeddah’s historic center focus of SCTA meeting

RIYADH: Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), held a meeting at his office in Riyadh earlier this week with Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, chairman of the City Center Development Company (CCDC), to review plans for the rehabilitation of the historic center of Jeddah.

The CCDC is the consortium responsible for the Jeddah Central Development Project and Works in cooperation with the municipality of Jeddah.

Restoration of the historic buildings with their unique architectural features, such as the coral brick buildings with distinct wooden window boxes called roshan, is a key part of plans to preserve the city’s cultural heritage for future generations.

Included in the meeting’s agenda was the discussion over nominating Jeddah’s historical area for UNESCO World Heritage status. Last year, the ancient Nabataean city of Madain Saleh became the Kingdom’s first UNESCO-approved World Heritage Site.

Saudi officials are hoping that eventually the historical centers of both Jeddah and Riyadh would be approved. Approval is contingent on preserving authentic structures.

Many of Jeddah’s older downtown buildings, such as the elaborate-but-decaying Jeddawi merchant homes near Al-Baiah roundabout, are in dire need of renovation if officials hope to preserve original structures.

Prince Sultan expressed the SCTA’s support for the CCDC’s strategy to respect the city’s cultural identity and bring its historic buildings back to life, assuring the CCDC delegates of his trust in the consortium’s local and international expertise that is bringing development projects in Jeddah to a reality.

“We now look forward to unifying our efforts (with the SCTA) to ensure that only best practices are adopted in the development project in order to successfully achieve its objectives and put Jeddah’s historic center on the world tourism map,” said Al-Sulaiman.

The Riyadh meeting will be followed up with an ongoing series of workshops and meetings in Jeddah to continue cooperation between the SCTA and the CCDC.